Ambush of Fort Umson
The Ambush of Fort Umson was an event that took place at the start of the Swarm War. A few hours after the attack carried out by the Coalition of Ordered Governments, the Outsider community of Fort Umson led by Reyna Diaz was ambushed by forces of the Swarm, the existance of which both the villagers and COG government were unaware of at that point. Order of Battle Prelude Following the battle with the COG DeeBees, night fell upon the village. Kait, JD and Del carried the stolen fabricator into the workshop with the intent of using it to restore electricity to Fort Umson. As her friends were busy, printing new batteries, Kait sat on one of the front windows' sills, looking outside, when she noticed a strange shape move through the village at high speed. The Ambush She walked to the door and while peeking out, she saw a large, arachnid-like creature with a glowing abdomen leap across the yard in front of the building. Then another. Suddenly, power went out, only moments after JD and Del managed to restore it. They heard strange noises coming from the roof of the workshop, when Kait joined them to inform her friends that "something" was in the village. Seconds later they heard screams and the sound of alarm coming from the outside. They tried to rush out of the building, but Reyna closed the workshop's door as they were trying to get out and rammed her machete into the opening for a padlock, locking the door. As Reyna was telling her daughter she and her friends need to hide and then run, a large humanoid, covered with yellow crystals approached Reyna and grabbed her by her throat. Using another machete, Reyna managed to free herself from her assailant's grasp by slashing its hand off, causing it to back off in suffering. It composed itself and came at her again, charging. Reyna managed to dodge its attack and slashed the enemy again, this time in its side. By then, the arachnids were crawling all over the village. One of them distracted Reyna by snatching a villager to her left. The humanoid exploited the distraction and attacked again, this time landing a powerful blow, which sent Reyna to the ground. While Kait and her friends tried forcing the door to open, William, visibly frightened, approached the workshop, begging the trio inside to let him in, only to be taken by one of the arachnids in an instant. Outside, the humanoid approached Reyna again. She managed to get up and stab it in the abdomen, causing the creature to lose its balance. She attacked again, aiming higher, but it managed to block her attack. Holding Reyna by her wrist, it turned around, causing Reyna to drop her machete and tossed her at the door of a barn. Reyna hit the ground again and tried to crawl away from the coming attacker. When it was a feet away from her, Oscar appeared behind it and fired his Gnasher at the creature, trying to save his sister-in-law, telling her to run. Unaffected by Oscar's attack, it turned around and grabbed Oscar by his left wrist, crushing it, which caused Oscar to fall. Reyna managed to get up, grab her weapon from the ground and rammed it into the side of the attacker in a desperate attack. It swung at her, landing another devastating blow that sent her down again. The creature pulled the machete ouf of the wound, stabbed Oscar in his right shoulder, then kicked him. Moments after landing a few yards away, Oscar was snatchned by one of the arachnids. The assailant turned its attention to Reyna. As it walked, she crawled toward a stack of firewood, leaned against it, held her mother's necklace in her hand and looked at it. Then she looked back at the attacker and to her side as it approached her. Seconds later she was taken, just like the rest of the villagers. Aftermath Right after the attack ended, Kait managed to open the door with a Boomshot she printed using the fabricator. The three rushed out of the workshop. While Kait run off to search for her mother and the others, Del remarked that it "sounded like there were dozens of 'em. Hundreds. Like a... like a 'swarm'" - The group would refer to the creatures using that word, which later was even adopted by the COG. JD spotted the amputated hand of the humanoid that assaulted Reyna, picked it up and after inspecting the limb he cut one of its crystal growths off in order to take it as a proof of the attack. Meanwhile, Kait found the broken machete that belonged to her mother and took it with her. Then, she noticed the spooked horses, ran toward them and mounted one, telling her friends they need to chase the creatures. JD tried to reason with her, telling her they do not know where the abductors went and suggested contacting First Minister Mina Jinn, believing only she had the resources required to handle such situation. Del joined the conversation, suggesting traveling to the Stroud Estate and asking JD's father, Marcus Fenix, to help. After a few moments of convincing, JD gave up and agreed with Del's idea. The three rode off, headed for the Estate.Gears of War 4: Act I: A Few Snags The attack ended with the deaths of nearly all villagers, who were dissolved after being placed inside biomass pods, which process humans into creatures known as juvies. Their deaths were confirmed by Marcus a few hours later, after he was freed from the pod inside the heart of the Fort Reval Hive, where he accessed the Swarm's network. He also learned that the Swarm was treating Kait's mother differently.Gears of War 4: Act III (Gears of War 4): Origins Reyna was taken to the Hive at the Tollen Dam, where she was found by Kait and her friends, supported by Delta-One. She was attached to the Swarm's biomass, partially mutated and asked her daughter to euthanize her, which Kait did.Gears of War 4: Act V (Gears of War 4): Release Some time after the attack, Oscar Diaz managed to free himself from the Snatcher that kidnapped him by killing the creature from the inside with a hunting knife.Gears of War 4: Post-Credits Scene He returned to Fort Umson, where he was reunited with Mackenzie and Eli, teenage twins that found the village deserted after returning from their trading trip to South Village. Following two attacks - one by the Swarm and one by DeeBees - the three decided to abandon the ruins of Fort Umson and head to South Village, not knowing it also was raided by the Swarm. A few hours after the first wave of DeeBees was destroyed by Mackenzie's traps, another detachment of bots was airdropped straight into the village and momentarily obliterated in a Swarm ambush. That failure was one of the events that caused the COG and - most importantly - Damon Baird to greatly improve the airdropping tactics and combat behavior of DeeBees. The massacre of Fort Umson was the first recorded attack carried out by the Swarm against a human settlement. It was also the first event of its kind that the COG learned about 2 days later, when Kait and everyone involved in the rescue attempt traveled to New Ephyra to meet with the First Minister.Gears of War: Ascendance References Category:Events